COPO Camaro - Flex vs Rupes - Carbon Fiber Hood Extreme Makeover

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

COPO Camaro - Flex vs Rupes - Carbon Fiber Hood Extreme Makeover


That's right... I only buffed out the hood. The rest of the car has swirls but hey... it's a RACE CAR! That means it has been used and abused and it's going to get used and abused even more into the future.

There's also lots of vinyl graphics all over the sides and flat black phantom vinyl graphics on the hood and down the sides of the car.

The hood however has a lot of exposed paint and as we all know the hood on a car tends to get the most attention so I carefully buffed it out to remove the swirls.



Here's the deal though...

I used the Rupes Bigfoot 21 on one half of the hood and the Flex 3401 on the other half of the hood.


Challenge: Try and guess which side of the hood I used the Rupes on and which side of the hood I used the Flex?


Here's before

Here's after....

Is it the tool? Or you?
One of the most common tool threads on this forum is on the topic of Rupes versus Flex or Flex versus Rupes.

Both tools have the potential to do amazing work, the true secret to maximizing their potential is you spending time behind the tool.



The car will be on display all weekend here at Detail Fest.

Please don't touch the paint on the car and especially the hood...

You'll leave fingerprints. :nomore:

:xyxthumbs:

 

[AZ Mike]

No LSP?

 

[FrankS]

Good job Mike!

Can't tell the difference from here, both sides look good.

Which pad & product did you use on each tool?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

No LSP?

Each side was,

1. Compounded
2. RIDS removed
3. Compounded a second time
4. Polished
5. Jeweled
6. Sealed with an LSP

 

[trekkeruss]

Which pad & product did you use on each tool?

That's a comparison I would like to see. Say, LC and Menzerna on the Flex vs. Rupes full system. I'd want to see comparison of each step too (including time), not just the finished paint.

Yeah, a lot to ask.

 

[Kamakaz1961]

Thank you Mike for this. FINALLY!!! As I have always said...technique trumps product any day. I do believe product will obviously help. But I think it is the talent of the detailer that makes a show car shine.

In this case, the Flex and Rupes BOTH WON!

BTW, beautiful work!!

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Did you use the same pad and product on each? Can't tell a difference from that distance.

 

[Audios S6]

That's a comparison I would like to see. Say, LC and Menzerna on the Flex vs. Rupes full system. I'd want to see comparison of each step too (including time), not just the finished paint.

Yeah, a lot to ask.

I agree. But much of that is also going to be highly dependent on the individual and the vehicle. Speaking both of time and finish on a single panel, I think the flex would likely edge out the rupes on any curved panel while the opposite is true of flat panels. That said, keeping all things equal with a skilled operator, I don't think you'll see any appreciable difference in the final time and finish on a whole vehicle. It comes down to which machine fits the detailer better.

The flex obviously has the advantage of variable pad size, which is a big plus. The rupes has a buba-proof system, which is plus.

 

[fly07sti]

Each side was,

1. Compounded
2. RIDS removed
3. Compounded a second time
4. Polished
5. Jeweled
6. Sealed with an LSP

Would this LSP be the new Black Fire product? (coating?)

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Did you use the same pad and product on each?

No... I normally use the Rupes "system". Not always but the majority of the time.

I'm teaching 4 classes this weekend for Detail Fest and two of them include Flex tools while none of them show Rupes.

Not for any reason except Todd Helme will be here to showcase the Rupes tools so no need for redundancy. So for these two reasons I wanted to give some attention to Rupes paint polishing system.

I found this paint to be more on the soft side than the hard side, maybe a tick or two on the soft side of "medium".

It corrected easy but both compounding processes left DA Haze. Of course I removed that in the follow-up steps.

Can't tell a difference from that distance.

And you can't in person.


For both sides I used high quality pads, products and of course the tools are both pro-grade.


The curved portions on the molded in air scoop were a little bit of a challenge for the Rupes but I used a technique I perfected on the last few cars I buffed out,

1999 Ferrari
1956 Nomad
1978 Trans Am
2000 Wicked 7 Porsche
2003 Tahoe
2013 Camaro

 

[dlc95]

Wow that looks great!

Two really nice machines too.

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Nice Mike. :dblthumb2:

Is that the technique you showed me at Boot Camp? If so - priceless! I use that technique often & with success, so thank you Mike. rops:

If it were me - I would have done the left side with the Rupes & the right with the Flex - just a personal preference on pad rotation & being right handed, if that makes any sense at all?

As for visually being able to tell . . . Nope, I can't tell. :xyxthumbs:

Umm - probably a silly question but what is COPO?

Great post Mike. Way cool. rops:

Aaryn.

 

[70fastback1]

Challenge: Try and guess which side of the hood I used the Rupes on and which side of the hood I used the Flex?

Pretty sure I would have to drive it to be sure! Can you get the "keys" :laughing: from Bruno?

Umm - probably a silly question but what is COPO?

"COPO — which stands for Central Office Production Order — was Chevrolet's special-order system, notoriously used by dealers in the 1960s to build high-performance models that couldn't be found anywhere else."
https://www.chevrolet.com/performance/copo-camaro.html

A track ready car!!!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Nice Mike. :dblthumb2:

Is that the technique you showed me at Boot Camp? If so - priceless! I use that technique often & with success, so thank you Mike. rops:

Thank you and yes.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Pretty sure I would have to drive it to be sure!

That's funny.... :laughing:

Can you get the "keys" :laughing: from Bruno?

Everyone that walks into the Show Car Garage and sees the car asks where the keys are?


:xyxthumbs:

 

[Dr_Pain]

Someone has to ask it...... How on earth did a vehicle sponsored by Autogeek get in that bad of a shape to start with? If I was you guys I would have instructed anyone prepping this car on proper wash technique etc..

BTW, I love the side by side showing that technique and knowledge transcend tools.

 

[aim4squirrels]

Mike,

You're the reason I keep going back to black vehicles even after I swear off them.

That hood makes me drool...

 

[Nick McKees37]

Someone has to ask it...... How on earth did a vehicle sponsored by Autogeek get in that bad of a shape to start with? If I was you guys I would have instructed anyone prepping this car on proper wash technique etc..

BTW, I love the side by side showing that technique and knowledge transcend tools.

It's a race car, not a show car.

We told Bruno that so long as he keeps winning, we'll continue to sponsor his dragster and make it clean and shiny every chance we get. :dblthumb2:

 

[Dr_Pain]

It's a race car, not a show car.

We told Bruno that so long as he keeps winning, we'll continue to sponsor his dragster and make it clean and shiny every chance we get. :dblthumb2:

HAHAHA!!! That is a great incentive for him then

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Just in case anyone was wondering....

I used Rupes on the passenger side and Flex on the driver's side...

Since the topic of machine polishing vinyl graphics just came up in a thread on detailing motorhomes...

How to wash, polish and wax your RV or Motorhome


To clean and brighten the Ivan graphics a softly machine polished and then machine waxed the graphics using the Rupes Bigfoot 21 with the super ultra soft white foam polishing pad and the NEW & Improved Diamond Ultra Fine Polish.

:dblthumb2: